Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
I agree, but percent of what?  |
A percentage of the entire process.
I am not trying to grow short plants, so I consider these a failure but other may consider them a success.
We have some members that just want to harvest fruit quickly and bunch weight is less important.
Tony (sunfish) had posted a study on pot size and root development.
IMO the study overlooked the importance of gradually and also seamlessly making these adjustments.
Maintaining an even and healthy root density is difficult to do in generic nursery pots.
I'm not surprised that your winter climate is basically shutting down the banana plant processes for 2-3 months, but planting in the Spring and harvesting in the Fall can eliminate your cooler winter climate for some cultivars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
From 2008 to 2012 I operated a nursery and growing grounds in San Diego. I had about 1/2 dozen banana cultivars, each of which in pot sizes ranging from 1 gallon to 25 gallon inclusively. I also had a few in 40 gallon pots.
What I noticed in my environment was that the smaller the pot, the greater the production of pups. Also, bananas in 1 and 2 gallon pots would tremendously slow their growth rate - Tony (sunfish) has observed this also in our climate. For bananas in 5 gallon pots, the pot would split after 9 to 12 months. Plants in 15 gallon would fruit in about 18 months, with the pstem shorter and the number of hands about 1/2 of normal "in the ground" production. Bananas in 25 gallon pots also fruited in 18 months and performed better than the 15 gallon plants. The few plants in 40 gallon pots fruited "normally" in 18 months.
I'm not surprised that you are getting more variation in performance with differing pot sizes in your climate. The winter climate here is cooler and basically shuts down most banana plant processes for 2-3 months.
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